9 Happy Days: FOR THE LOVE OF AN A.B.J

APRIL 10, 2014

Woo wee! Today was one of those adrenaline fueled news days, the kind where you don’t even get a chance to… well… you know… Pee. Eww. Sorry to get so personal, but it really is an issue for news people stuck on a story. Not only could I not do–that–I certainly didn’t have time to look for my 100 Happy Days moment! Good thing it found me.

So why was I so busy? Because there was a suspect on the loose with a sawed-off shotgun, a guy who had shot at Tustin police and then ran off. For five hours, there were SWAT teams, and helicopters, and PD everywhere looking for this guy. The coolest part of the day? When the helicopter landed in the middle of the street, loaded two swat officers on either side, and took off again. So super cool! Their takeoff made for a great opening shot to our story.

So why didn’t I chose that picture as my 1oo Happy Days moment? Well… I don’t know. I still find it hard to call a news story like this where shots were fired at an officer and in a neighborhood where there are innocent bystanders, “happy.” Visually amazing? Yeah. Exciting? Hell yes! Awesome to feel the power of the helicopter blades? For sure. Not many people get to see the kinds of things I get to see up close. But happy? Can’t quite go there.

What made me SUPER happy today, was this:

Yes. That is a very sloppy almond butter and jelly sandwich, one I threw together at the last minute before leaving for work. I try to take my lunch every day knowing I could be in situations like this, but don’t always manage. Man, was I ever happy I had, since I was tied to the newsvan with no opportunity to go get something to eat. Around one o’clock, when I was starved out of my tree, I was SO SO happy to remember this little guy existed. It’s the simple things, remember?

That’s the face of a happy girl.

Oh! And they did end up catching the shooter after a resident saw him running through an apartment complex. The helicopter guys kept him in their sights as the ground swat moved in. He surrendered. Dude had quite the long rap sheet.

And now… I’m ready for some real food, so I’m going to call it a night.

Lori Bentley Law

Author, Photographer, Adventurer, Storyteller

Search the Site

Let's Get Social

Note from the Author!

Thanks to the Great Website Crash of 2017, many photos prior to that time are missing. Also, the WordPress shift to Gutenberg in January 2019 forced me to rebuild the site since my template wasn’t compatible, so if you run across any weird coding, that’s why. Gradually, I’ll get it all fixed!